Signers of the letter include former Food and Drug Administration Associate Commissioner Peter Lurie, Yale School of Public Health assistant professor Gregg Gonsalves, New York City Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot and former US Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders.
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, (Fauci) has remained one of the world’s most trusted scientists on COVID-19, daily explaining in lay terms the complexity of an illness we still don’t fully understand,” the letter states. “And he has done so by placing science front and center in the public discourse. Attempting to marginalize highly respected researchers such as Dr. Fauci is a dangerous distraction at a time when we most need voices like his.”
“As current and former public health officials, researchers, and public health professionals, we call on our political leaders, members of the media and all Americans to reject the sidelining of science, to speak out against the silencing of scientists, and to champion open and public scientific discussions of the issues facing our country as we struggle to make progress against the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic,” it adds, The Hill reported.
The letter comes after White House trade adviser Peter Navarro published an op-ed criticizing Fauci in USA Today, which the White House has said was unauthorized. President Trump said last week that Navarro “shouldn’t be doing that” and told Fox News’s Chris Wallace that he considered Fauci “a little bit of an alarmist” but said they have a “very good relationship.”